Tag Archives: Jeff Bachiochi

In Circuit Cellar’s March issue, columnist Jeff Bachiochi tests the services of a company he says is “poised to make a big impact” on the Internet of Things (IoT).

This shows the I2C interface Bachiochi designed to enable available clamp-on current sensors to be monitored. He added four of these circuits to a PCB, which includes the circuitry for an imp card.

Established in 2011, Electric Imp offers a flexible connectivity platform meant to enable any device to be connected to the IoT. The platform, called the “imp,” provides an SD-card sized module (including an 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi radio package) that can be installed on any electronic device to go online. A powerful processor runs the imp OS.

“You only need to supply an SD card socket (and a few other components) to your product to give it connectivity,” Bachiochi says. “The imp’s processor has the power to run your entire product if you wish, or it can be connected via one of the supported serial protocols. The imp OS provides secure connectivity to the imp cloud. The imp cloud keeps your imp updated with the latest firmware, features online development tools, and provides cloud-side services for every imp in the field.”

“As with many cloud service organizations, development is generally free,” Bachiochi adds. “Once you’ve committed and have product rollout, the service will charge for its use. This could be a flat fee, a per-connection or data throughput fee, or a combination of fees. Basically you (or your customer) will have to pay to have access to the information, which pays for the support framework that keeps it all working.”

In his article, Bachiochi dives into a straightforward data-collection project to demonstrate how to use the imp in a product. The goal of his application was to log the activity of 220-V water pump and twin water softeners. The project is the launching point for his comprehensive and detailed look at the imp’s hardware, software, and costs.

“It’s easy to design product hardware to use the imp,” he says. “There are two imp models, a card that can be inserted into an SD-type socket or an on-board module that is soldered into your product. Each version has advantages and disadvantages.”

Regarding software, Bachiochi says:

“Developing an imp application requires two parts to provide Wi-Fi access to your project: the device code (running in the imp) and the agent code (running on the imp cloud). The imp cloud, which is your connection to your device via the imp APIs, provides you with a development IDE. Web-based development means there is nothing else you need to purchase or install on your PC. Everything you need is available through your browser anytime and anywhere.”

Bachiochi also discusses the Electric Imp platform’s broader goals. While an individual can use the imp for device connectivity, a bigger purpose is to enable manufacturers to provide convenient Internet access as part of their product, Bachiochi says.

“The imp has two costs: The hardware is simple, it currently costs approximately $25 for an imp card or module. If you are using this in your own circuit within your own network, then you’re done,” he says. “If you want to roll out a product for sale to the world, you must take the next step and register for the BlinkUp SDK and Operations Console, which enable you to create and track factory-blessed products.”

BlinkUp, according to the Electric Imp website, integrates smoothly into apps and enables manufacturers and their customers to quickly connect products using a smartphone or tablet. The Operations Console enables tracking product activity and updating product firmware at any time, Bachiochi says.

The imp offers more than a low-cost way for DIYers and developers to connect devices to the Internet, Bachiochi says. A designer using the imp can save project costs by eliminating a microcontroller, he says. “Almost any peripheral can be easily connected to and serviced by the imp’s 32-bit Cortex M3 processor running the imp OS. All code is written in Squirrel.”

If you missed the World Maker Faire in New York City, you can pick up Circuit Cellar’s February issue for highlights of the innovative projects and hackers represented there.Veteran electronics DIYer and magazine columnist Jeff Bachiochi is the perfect guide.

“The World Maker Faire is part science fair and part country fair,” Bachiochi says. “Makers are DIYers. The maker movement empowers everyone to build, repair, remake, hack, and adapt all things. The Maker Faire shares the experiences of makers who have been involved in this important process… Social media keeps us in constant contact and can educate, but it can’t replace the feeling you can get from hands-on live interaction with people and the things they have created.

Photo 1: This pole-climbing robot is easy to deploy at a moment’s notice. There is no need for a ladder to get emergency communication antennas up high where they can be most effective.

“It should be noted that not all Maker Faire exhibitors are directly involved with technology. Some non-technological projects on display included the ‘Art Car’ from Pittsburgh, which is an annual revival of an old clunker turned into a drivable art show on wheels. There was also the life-size ‘Mouse Trap’ game, which was quite the contraption and just plain fun, especially if you grew up playing the original game.”

Bachiochi’s article introduces you to a wide variety of innovators, hackers, and hackerspaces.

“The 721st Mechanized Contest Battalion (MCB) is an amateur radio club from Warren County, NJ, that combines amateur (ham) radio with electronics, engineering, mechanics, building, and making,” Bachiochi says. “The club came to the Maker Faire to demonstrate its Emergency Antenna Platform System (E-APS) robot. The robot, which is designed for First Responder Organizations, will turn any parking lot lamppost into an instant antenna tower (see Photo 1).”

The keen and growing interest in 3-D printing as a design tool was evident at the Maker Faire.

“Working by day as an analog/mixed-signal IC design engineer for Cortina Systems in Canada, Andrew Plumb needed a distraction. In the evenings, Plumb uses a MakerBot 3-D printer to create 3-D designs of plastic, like thousands of others experimenting with 3-D printing,” Bachiochi says. “Plumb was not satisfied with simply printing plastic widgets. In fact, he showed me a few of his projects, which include printing plastic onto paper and cloth (see Photo 2).”

Photo 2: Andrew Plumb showed me some unique ideas he was experimenting with using one of his 3-D printers. By printing the structural frame directly on tissue paper, ultra-light parts are practically ready to fly.

Also in the 3-D arena, Bachiochi encountered some innovative new products.

“It was just a matter of time until someone introduced a personal scanner to create digital files of 3-D objects. The MakerBot Digitizer Desktop 3-D Scanner is the first I’ve seen (see Photo 3),” Bachiochi says. “It uses a laser, a turntable, and a CMOS camera to pick off 3-D points and output a STL file. The scanner will create a 3-D image from an object up to 8″ in height and width. There is no third axis scanning, so you must plan your model’s orientation to achieve the best results. Priced less than most 3-D printers, this will be a hot item for 3-D printing enthusiasts.”

Bachiochi’s article includes a lengthy section about “other interesting stuff” and people at the Maker Faire, including the Public Laboratory for Open Technology and Science (Public Lab), a community that uses inexpensive DIY techniques to investigate environmental concerns.

Photo 3: The MakerBot Digitizer Desktop 3-D Scanner is the first production scanner I’ve seen that will directly provide files compatible with the 3-D printing process. (Photo credit: Spencer Higgins)

“For instance, the New York chapter featured two spectrometers, a you-fold-it cardboard version and a near-infrared USB camera-based kit,” Bachiochi says. “This community of educators, technologists, scientists, and community organizers believes they can promote action, intervention, and awareness through a participatory research model in which you can play a part.”

At this family-friendly event, Bachiochi met a family that “creates” together.

“Asheville, NC-based Beatty Robotics is not your average robotics company,” Bachiochi says. “The Beatty team is a family that likes to share fun robotic projects with friends, family, and other roboticists around the world. The team consists of Dad (Robert) and daughters Camille ‘Lunamoth’ and Genevieve ‘Julajay.’ The girls have been mentored in electronics, software programming, and workshop machining. They do some unbelievable work (see Photo 4). Everyone has a hand in designing, building, and programming their fleet of robots. The Hall of Science is home to one of their robots, the Mars Rover.”

There is much more in Bachiochi’s five-page look at the Maker Faire, including resources for finding and participating in a hackerspace community. The February issue including Bachiochi’s articles is available for membership download or single-issue purchase.

Photo 4: Beatty Robotics is a family of makers that produces some incredible models. Young Camille Beatty handles the soldering, but is also well-versed in machining and other areas of expertise.

A few years ago, the Android Open Accessory initiative was announced with the aim of making it easier for hardware manufacturers to create accessories that work with every Android device. Future Technology Devices International (FTDI) joined the initiative and last year introduced the FTD311D multi-interface Android host IC. The goal was to enable engineers and designers to make effective use of tablets and smartphones with the Android OS, according to Circuit Cellar columnist Jeff Bachiochi.

In the magazine’s December issue Bachiochi takes a comprehensive look at the USB Android host IC and how it works. By the end of his article, readers will have learned quite a bit about how to use FTDI’s apps and the FT311D chip to turn an Android device into their own I/0 tool.

Bachiochi used the SPI Master demo to read key presses and set LED states on this SPI slave 16-key touch panel.

Here is how Bachiochi describes the FT311D and its advantages:

The FT311D is a full-speed USB host targeted at providing access to peripheral hardware from a USB port on an Android device. While an Android device can be a USB host, many are mobile devices with limited power. For now, these On-The-Go (OTG) ports will be USB devices only (i.e., they can only connect to a USB host as a USB device).

Since the USB host is responsible for supplying power to a USB peripheral device, it would be bad design practice to enable a USB peripheral to drain an Android mobile device’s energy. Consequently, the FT311D takes on the task of USB host, eliminating any draw on the Android device’s battery.

All Android devices from V3.1 (Honeycomb) support the Android Open Accessory Mode (AOAM). The AOAM is the complete reverse of the conventional USB interconnect. This game-changing approach to attaching peripherals enables three key advantages. First, there is no need to develop special drivers for the hardware; second, it is unnecessary to root devices to alter permissions for loading drivers; and third, the peripheral provides the power to use the port, which ensures the mobile device battery is not quickly drained by the external hardware being attached.

Since the FT311D handles the entire USB host protocol, USB-specific firmware programming isn’t required. As the host, the FT311D must inquire whether the connected device supports the AOAM. If so, it will operate as an Open Accessory Mode device with one USB BULK IN endpoint and one USB BULK OUT endpoint (as well as the control endpoint.) This interface will be a full-speed (12-Mbps) USB enabling data transfer in and out.

The AOAM USB host has a set of string descriptors the Android OS is capable of reading. These strings are (user) associated with an Android OS application. The Android then uses these strings to automatically start the application when the hardware is connected. The FT311D is configured for one of its multiple interfaces via configuration inputs at power-up. Each configuration will supply the Android device with a unique set of string descriptors, therefore enabling different applications to run, depending on its setup.

The FT311D’s configuration determines whether each application will have access to several user interface APIs that are specific to each configuration.

The article goes on to examine the various interfaces in detail and to describe a number of demo projects, including a multimeter.

Many of Bachiochi’s projects use printable ASCII text commands and replies. This enables a serial terminal to become a handy user I/O device. This current probe circuit outputs its measurements in ASCII-printable text.

Multimeters are great tools. They have portability that enables them to be brought to wherever a measurement must be made. An Android device has this same ability. Since applications can be written for these devices, they make a great portable application tool. Until the AOAM’s release, there was no way for these devices to be connected to any external circuitry and used as an effective tool.

I think FTDI has bridged this gap nicely. It provided a great interface chip that can be added to any circuit that will enable an Android device to serve as an effective user I/O device. I’ve used the chip to quickly interface with some technology to discover its potential or just test its abilities. But I’m sure you are already thinking about the other potential uses for this connection.

Bachiochi is curious to hear from readers about their own ideas.

If you think the AOAM has future potential, but you want to know what’s involved with writing Android applications for a specific purpose, send me an e-mail and I’ll add this to my list of future projects!

You can e-mail Bachiochi at jeff.bachiochi@imaginethatnow.com or post your comment here.

“We’re immersed in a world of beeps and boops,” Gualtieri says. “Every digital knick-knack we own, from cell phones to microwave ovens, seeks to attract our attention.”

“Many simple microprocessor circuits need to generate one, or several, audio alert signals,” he adds. “The designer usually uses an easily programmed square wave voltage as an output pin that feeds a simple piezoelectric speaker element. It works, but it sounds awful. How can microprocessor audio be improved in some simple ways?”

Gualtieri’s article explains how analog circuitry and sine waves are often a better option than digital circuitry and square waves for audio alert signals.

Another article that touches on signal processing is columnist Colin Flynn’s look at advanced methods of debugging an FPGA design. It’s the debut of his new column Programmable Logic in Practice.

“This first article introduces the use of integrated logic analyzers, which provide an internal view of your running hardware,” O’Flynn says. “My next article will continue this topic and show you how hardware co-simulation enables you to seamlessly split the verification between real hardware interfacing to external devices and simulated hardware on your computer.”

You can find videos and other material that complement Colin’s articles on his website.

Another October issue highlight is a real prize-winner. The issue features the first installment of a two-part series on the SunSeeker Solar Array Tracker, which won third place in the 2012 DesignSpark chipKit challenge overseen by Circuit Cellar.

The SunSeeker, designed by Canadian Graig Pearen, uses a Microchip Technology chipKIT Max32 and tracks, monitors, and adjusts PV arrays based on weather and sky conditions. It measures PV and air temperature, compiles statistics, and communicates with a local server that enables the SunSeeker to facilitate software algorithm development. Diagnostic software monitors the design’s motors to show both movement and position.

Pearen, semi-retired from the telecommunications industry and a part-time solar technician, is still refining his original design.

“Over the next two to three years of development and field testing, I plan for it to evolve into a full-featured ‘bells-and-whistles’ solar array tracker,” Pearen says. “I added a few enhancements as the software evolved, but I will develop most of the additional features later.”

Walter Krawec, a PhD student studying Computer Science at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, NJ, wraps up his two-part series on “Experiments in Developmental Robotics.”

In Part 1, he introduced readers to the basics of artificial neural networks (ANNs) in robots and outlined an architecture for a robot’s evolving neural network, short-term memory system, and simple reflexes and instincts. In Part 2, Krawec discusses the reflex and instinct system that rewards an ENN.

“I’ll also explain the ‘decision path’ system, which rewards/penalizes chains of actions,” he says. “Finally, I’ll describe the experiments we’ve run demonstrating this architecture in a simulated environment.”

Videos of some of Krawec’s robot simulations can be found on his website.

Speaking of robotics, in this issue columnist Jeff Bachiochi introduces readers to the free robot control programming language RobotBASIC and explains how to use it with an integrated simulator for robot communication.

Other columnists also take on a number of very practical subjects. Robert Lacoste explains how inexpensive bipolar junction transistors (BJTs) can be helpful in many designs and outlines how to use one to build an amplifier.

George Novacek, who has found that the cost of battery packs account for half the purchase price of his equipment, explains how to build a back-up power source with a lead-acid battery and a charger.

“Building a good battery charger is easy these days because there are many ICs specifically designed for battery chargers,” he says.

Columnist Bob Japenga begins a new series looking at file systems available on Linux for embedded systems.

“Although you could build a Linux system without a file system, most Linux systems will have some sort of file system,” Japenga says. “And there are various types. There are files systems that do not retain their data (volatile) across power outages (i.e., RAM drives). There are nonvolatile read-only file systems that cannot be changed (e.g., CRAMFS). And there are nonvolatile read/write file systems.”

Linux provides all three types of file systems, Japenga says, and his series will address all of them.

Finally, the magazine offers some special features, including an interview with Alenka Zajić, who teaches signal processing and electromagnetics at Georgia Institute of Technology’s School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Also, two North Carolina State University researchers write about advances in 3-D liquid metal printing and possible applications such as electrical wires that can “heal” themselves after being severed.

In Circuit Cellar’s September issue, columnist Jeff Bachiochi provides his final installment in a three-part series titled “Serial Displays Save Resources.” The third article focuses on bitmap (BMP) files, which store images.

A BMP file has image data storage beginning with the image’s last row. a—Displaying this data as stored will result in an upside-down image. b—Using the upsidedown=1 command will rotate the display 180°. c—The mirror=1 command flips the image horizontally. d—Finally, an origin change is necessary to shift the image to the desired location. These commands are all issued prior to transferring the pixels, to correct for the way the image data is stored.

LCDs are inexpensive and simple to use, so they are essential to many interesting projects, Jeff says. The handheld video game industry helped popularize the use of LCDs among DIYers.

Huge production runs in the industry “made graphic displays commonplace, helping to quickly reduce their costs,” Jeff says. “We can finally take advantage of lower-cost graphic displays, with one caveat: While built-in hardware controllers and drivers take charge of the pixels, you are now responsible for more than just sending a character to be printed to the screen. This makes the controllers and drivers not work well with the microcontroller project. That brings us to impetus for this article series.

“In Part 1 (‘Routines, Registers and Commands,’ Circuit Cellar 276, 2013), I began by discussing how to use a graphic display to print text, which, of course, includes character generation. In essence, I showed how to insert some intelligence between a project and the display. This intermediary would interpret some simple commands that enable you to easily make use of the display’s flexibility by altering position, screen orientation, color, magnification, and so forth.

“Part 2 (‘Button Commands,’ Circuit Cellar 277) revealed how touch-sensitive overlays are constructed and used to provide user input. The graphic display/touch overlay combination is a powerful combination that integrates I/O into a single module. Adding more commands to the interface makes it easier to create dynamic buttons on the graphic screen and reports back whenever a button is touched.

The prototype PCB I used for this project mounts to the reverse side of the thin-film transistor (TFT) LCD. The black connector holds the serial and power connections to your project. The populated header is for the Microchip Technology MPLAB ICD 3 debugger/programmer.

“Since I am using a graphic screen, it makes sense to investigate graphic files. This article (Part 3, ‘BMP Files,’ Circuit Cellar 277) examines the BMP file makeup and how this relates to the graphic screen.”

To learn more about the BMP graphical file format and Jeff’s approach to working with a graphic icon’s data, check out the September issue.

Circuit Cellar columnist Jeff Bachiochi has enjoyed driving his wife’s Prius, in part because of the real-time feedback it gives him on the miles per gallon he is getting. It made him aware of how he could save gas with simple and immediate adjustments to his driving style.

With that in mind, he thought it would be a good idea to build an effective and affordable monitoring device that would give him the same real-time mpg for his Jeep. After all, he can’t always borrow his wife’s car.

In the June issue, he shares what he came up with for an onboard diagnostics display. He explains below how he tapped into his own experience, as well as that of another Circuit Cellar author, to build the device for Jeep

“In the summer of 2011, I presented a three-part series about the on-board diagnostic system (OBD-II) built into every automobile produced since 1996 (Circuit Cellar 251–253)….”

“In 2005, Bruce D. Lightner wrote an article about his winning entry in the 2004 Atmel AVR design contest (“AVR-Based Fuel Consumption Gauge,” Circuit Cellar 183, 2005). Lightner’s project altered an analog tachometer gauge as a display for miles per gallon. I wanted to show a little more information, so my project uses a Parallax Propeller microcontroller to interrogate the OBD interpreter and drive a composite LCD.

“You can get a composite color display from Parallax or an online source. While I had a small 2.5” display to work with, I was looking for something a bit bigger. For less than $50, I found a 7” LCD, which happened to be combined with a camera (for mounting on a vehicle’s rear license plate frame)…

“I dug out my Propeller Proto Board and blew off the dust…. The Propeller microcontroller design includes eight 32-bit parallel processors (i.e., cogs) and peripheral support, including access to the 32 I/O pins, two counters, and a video generator per cog. It is the video generator support that makes this project possible with a minimal component count…. only three resistors are required to develop a composite video output.“

To read more about Bachiochi’s OBD device, check out his article in the June issue.